There are fears the poor exploration environment will reverberate through rural and regional areas over the next decade.

ABC: Stephen Stockwell

The outgoing boss of a mining company exploring near Broken Hill is warning an industry shortfall looms if new exploration ventures lag.

The founder and outgoing chairman of Carpentaria Exploration, Nick Sheard, says investment in big-scale mineral exploration has come to a near halt in recent years.

Mr Sheard says this could mean a hole in the industry and a lack of rural jobs in the coming decade.

He says governments have failed to recognise the role new exploration projects play in securing a stable mining industry for the future.

"If we don't start finding things now we're going to have a big hole in the next seven years' time," he said.

"The sad fact of life is that if you start looking back at the exploration successes in the last say 10 years, they're very minimal.

"We haven't been finding those big Olympic Dam-style things, the Mount Isas and the Broken Hills."

Carpentaria Exploration is mid-way through a feasibility study into an iron ore project south-west of Broken Hill.

Mr Sheard says a lag in exploration for new minerals across the country could create a shortfall in jobs.

"We're certainly not going to find it in the next few years with the exploration expenditure diminishing so dramatically," he said.

"So I'm a bit worried that by this hiatus in exploration means that there's going to be a hiatus in discovery of the mines in the seven to 10-year bracket from now which means lack of jobs in country Australia, which is a bit of a bugger."